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July 9, 2006

G86: White Sox 6, Red Sox 5 (19)

Props to Julian Tavarez for an amazing pitching performance (4-1-0-1-2, 49), shutting down the White Sox in the 13th-16th innings. That's more unlikely than Harvey Haddix's 12 perfect innings back in 1959.

After that, asking for three shutout innings from Rudy Seanez, who hadn't pitched since June 30, was too much. He gave us 2.1 -- which is about 2.1 more than I expected -- but then four straight singles ended the 6:19 marathon.

Boo: Jason Varitek and Trot Nixon went a combined 0-for-17. But none of the other batters did much for the last 15 innings (except for Loretta in the 11th), either.

While Contreras has had 17 consecutive winning decisions and is 9-0 this season, his lifetime ERA against Boston is 11.67. But Schilling notes: "He's not even remotely what he was in New York. I think a lot of that is confidence, the way he pitches, his mound presence is better and it's showing."

From The Press Notes:

David Ortiz is the second Red Sox player to hit 8 HR over 8 consecutive games (George Scott (the one and only Boomer to wear red socks), June 14-22, 1977). Flo is on pace for 59 HR and 164 RBI. Since last year's All-Star break, Ortiz has hit 57 HR and driven in 159 runs, both tops in MLB.

The last time the Sox faced a pitcher with a 9-0 record? June 27, 1978, Ron Guidry, Yankees. New York won 6-4 in 14 innings (Guidry got a ND). ... The last time the Sox pinned a loss on a pitcher with a 9-0 record? July 9, 1960 (exactly 47 years ago today), Jim Coates, Yankees. Boston won 6-5.

Rudy Seanez has not pitched since June 30 (yay!). Among Red Sox relievers he has the lowest percentage of first batters retired (14-of-30, 47%). Jonathan Papelbon is at 79% (31-of-39), Mike Timlin is at 76% (25-of-33), and Craig Hansen is 100% (10-for-10).

We all know that the Ken Harrelson and Whoever Is With Him (Somebody Jackson, I think) are the absolute worst announcers on the planet. They make Joe Morgan and Chris Berman sound like Vin Scully in his prime.

Some comments from the game from the SoSH Game Thread:

SouthernBoSox: "They won't even say "Strike 3" or "A swing and a miss". They just don't say anything when the opposing team does something good."

cheekydave: "for those of you lucky enough to not have the hawk on1st inning: schilling just struck out iguchi ... silence. total silence. then count 1 ... 2 ... 3 ... 4 ...and on to the next batter --guess we don't get a He Gone for a schilling strike out.

timlin is just a cooked little turkey. he comes in and loades the bases with no outs. that was the game right there. we led 5-3 and he gave up the ol perfect two runs to make the game go 19 innings and make Fatty-MC in the crowd fall asleep.

On the cusp of the All-Star Break, the last two days in CHI gave us the rarity of seeing starting pitchers come out of the bullpen in an effort to win games (the others being elimination games in DS, LS, WS).

Unfortunately, it was CHI that was able to dip deeper into their 'pen than the Sox. Of all the arms remaining after Tavarez, Seanez was the end of the line (though Gordon Edes notes in today's Globe that Jason Johnson was conspicuously unavailable and may be gone after the ASB).

Though Pap showed he was human after all (and Timlin alarmingly so for the second time in less than a week), Tavarez did very much exceed expectations with four strong. In the end, Seanez showed some grit, moreso than expected, and may have earned himself a brief reprieve from the waiver/trade wire.

So we give ARod two years of crap for slapping the ball out of Bronson's glove, and NO ire expressed toward the ChiSox A-hole All-Star catcher, who not only slid four feet short of the bag but also grabbed Gonzalez with both hands as he was making the relay? An infinitely more dirty play than ARod's...smarter, I grant you, because the worst that can happen is that interference is called and the winning run scores anyway. But where the hell were the umpires? That was blatant, and Tito didn't even argue it. Clear, textbook interference...and it robbed the Sox of a win.